Hussain Talat stars with double ton as Southern Punjab dominate Northern

Southern Punjab's Hussain Talat on Monday raised eyebrows as he smashed 253 runs to put his side in a dominating position against runners-up Northern on the second day of their first round four-day fixture of the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy at Karachi's NBP Sports Complex.

The 24-year-old, who has played one one-day and 14 T20Is for Pakistan, was unstoppable as he punished Northern’s bowling line-up to enable Southern Punjab to declare their first innings at 507-9 in 113.1 overs, after resuming at 174-1 in response to Northern’s first innings total of 165, thus gaining a 342-run lead.

Hussain hit his first double ton in his 41st first-class game. He had scored just one century before his massive knock which includes 33 fours and six sixes.

Hussain, who was batting on 53 on the opening day, added 185 for the second wicket with skipper Shan Masood, who fell for 134. Shan, who was batting on 80 at stumps on Sunday, struck 17 fours in his 185-ball knock, 15th first-class hundred in his 128th game.

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Left-arm spinner Nauman Ali bagged 4-163, while Athar Mahmood captured 3-84. Northern were gasping at 31-3 in their second innings at stumps. They still need 312 runs to avert an innings defeat.

At the UBL Sports Complex, Khurram Shahzad and Test leggie Yasir Shah bowled extremely well as Balochistan gained a huge lead against Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Mandi Bahauddin-born Khurram got 5-27 in ten overs, while Yasir bagged 4-94 in 17.5 overs to enable Balochistan to fold KP for a paltry total of 167 in 46.5 overs in response to their own total of 362 all out. The duo did not let KP batters to settle down at any stage with their superb bowling which handed Balochistan a huge 195 runs lead.

Khalid Usman remained the top scorer with 57 not out. He hit eight fours and two sixes in his 88-ball feat. Kamran Ghulam scored 42 off 65 balls, which included six fours and one six. Sajid Khan struck 27 off 40 balls, clobbering five fours.

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Balochistan did not enforce follow-on and had scored 34-1 in their second innings at close, stretching their lead to 229.

Earlier, Balochistan resumed their first innings at 310-7 and were bowled out for 362 in 110.2 overs. Bismillah Khan, who was not out on 112 at close on the opening day, departed after reaching 118. The wicket-keeper batsman smashed 13 fours in his 342-ball knock. Khurram Shahzad struck 37 off 79 balls, including four fours and one six. Off-spinner Sajid Khan got 3-96 in 30.2 overs.

At the National Stadium, Fawad Alam hit 90 not out to enable Sindh to recover as they reached 196-6 in 80 overs in their first innings in response to Central Punjab’s 207.

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At one stage, Sindh were reeling at 113-6, but Tabish Khan (17*) gave superb support to Fawad as the duo put on 83 valuable runs for the seventh-wicket unbroken stand to brighten hosts’ chances of taking lead.

Fawad struck seven fours in his 182-ball unfinished knock. Tabish, the bowling hero of Sindh on the first day, hit one four in his 87-ball struggle with the willow.

Earlier, Khurram Manzoor was the only batsman who resisted on the difficult track as he struck 35 before edging Ehsan Adil to slips where Mohammad Saad took a nice catch. Khurram faced 104 balls during his 158-minute stay at the crease. Omair Yousuf (12) and Sarfraz Ahmed (10) were the other notable contributors.

New-ball partners Waqas Maqsood (2-49) and Ahmad Bashir (2-46) did the main damage. Earlier, Central Punjab resumed their first innings at 205-9 and were folded after adding just two more runs to their total.

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